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Funding
Individual Artists
We are the main support for individuals working in the creative sector, offering a broad range of funding and development opportunities through our Public and National Lottery funds. We support and promote the widest possible spectrum of high quality arts and creativity.
How we support Individual Artists
We support creative practitioners providing amazing creative and cultural experiences to people right across Northern Ireland, from drama and dance to visual arts, music to disability arts, circus to language arts, poetry to arts in the community.
The key funding stream for Individual Artists is:
Support for the Individual Artist Programme (SIAP)
SIAP opens annually, usually summertime, and includes a suite of schemes designed to support artists in the full range of their activities, including:
- General Art Awards
- Artists Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES)
- Major Individual Artist Awards
- Artists International Development Fund
- Self-arranged Residencies
- Anne O’Donoghue Professional Development Award
- Travel Awards (Travel Awards are open for applications all year round)
- Other Programmes
We may provide further funding opportunities for individual artists at different times during the year. In recent times this has included funding for musical instruments, Young Musicians Platform, Minority Ethnic Artists, Creative Industries, art acquisitions, and international opportunities.
Meet our Aces and Major Artists
ACES is a professional development programme which provides funding awards to Northern Ireland’s most talented emerging and mid-career artists, helping them to create new work and develop their professional careers.
